If you leave a space or stop your car to let others into traffic, any accident in the area becomes your fault.

At least that's the law here.

Hmmmmmmmm. Very interesting.

I've tried to find an answer to this, but haven't yet been successful.

The issue isn't so much "stopping my car to let others into traffic" (as in stopping, mid stream), but rather stopping in a hugeass line (red light), in a way that allows people to enter or exit a commerce.

We have an interesting situation here during peak hours, where the line at the light can be a constant 50 cars deep for a good hour or two every day. If people didn't leave "courtesy gaps", no one would be able to enter the commerce, nor leave, during that period. We're talking a one-lane country road, with a turn-lane at the light only -- the main lane backed up for up to a kilometer every week-day. (actually, I've seen way longer - but that's usually because of something special)

I'm now really interested in finding out where the law stands on this here...... and hope it wouldn't blame those allowing the access, but rather rely on the common sense of the person passing thru the gap.

Worry is a misuse of imagination“She hadblue skin, And so didhe. He kept it hid And so did she.They searched for blueTheir whole life through, Then passed right by- And never knew.” Shel Silverstein

Interesting indeed. In my neck of the woods it's unlawful to block intersections. Some local ordinances say it's unlawful to block points of entree and exit at places of commerce that reside at intersections during peek times. Or if the only entree/exit intersects within X feet of an intersection regardless of traffic flow. (I can think of a fast food place that has a entree on one side of the building and an exit on the other. The exit lane has always been in the four-way intersection. But over the last decade the city has been moving back the stop line from in-between both points, to where it is now, right before the entree point. The four-way isn't 45 degree angles, more 0 east/west, -45 north, 50 south that bends hella fast)*shrug*Although people around here generally leave space, or let someone waiting to pull onto the road do so once the light changes.

In my absence from ePlaya, I may have missed someone posting this somewhere else, but I feel it belongs in the WTF thread. I was somehow unaware of this until today.

Off-duty officer from Kalamazoo, MI, is in Calgary during the Stampede (a two-week-long rodeo festival thingy... not my cup of tea, but I don't live in Calgary. It's definitely an all-encompassing event in that city). He is approached by two young men in a park, and, well, I'll let him tell the story. Here is the text of the letter he wrote to the editor of the Calgary Herald:

I recently visited Calgary from Michigan. As a police officer for 20 years, it feels strange not to carry my off-duty hand-gun. Many would say I have no need to carry one in Canada.

Yet the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be allowed to protect himself if the need arises. The need arose in a theatre in Aurora, Colo., as well as a college campus in Canada.

Recently, while out for a walk in Nose Hill Park, in broad daylight on a paved trail, two young men approached my wife and me. The men stepped in front of us, then said in a very aggressive tone: "Been to the Stampede yet?"

We ignored them. The two moved closer, repeating: "Hey, you been to the Stampede yet?"

I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, "Gentle-men, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye." They looked bewildered, and we then walked past them.

I speculate they did not have good intentions when they approached in such an aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort, but rather concluded it was in their best interest to leave us alone.

Would we not expect a uniformed officer to pull his or her weapon to intercede in a life-or-death encounter to protect self, or another? Why then should the expectation be lower for a citizen of Canada or a visitor? Wait, I know - it's because in Canada, only the criminals and the police carry handguns.

Uh... yeah. I would submit that this guy should not be allowed to carry a gun!

If you want drama to stop following you everywhere, try letting go of the leash.

lucky420 wrote:I want to know what the "Stampede" is and did this guy think this was a life or death situation?

The Calgary Stampede is this big 10-day rodeo/fair/agriculture festival that kind of encompasses the whole city. There are fireworks and concerts and agricultural exhibitions and millions of tourists. It's apparently impossible to be in Calgary when it's on and not know. Heck, it's almost impossible to be in Canada and not know that the Stampede is on, because it fills the headlines. Last year, the royal Spawn went there on their post-honeymoon tour. Every year, the prime minister goes. Our current Prime Minister, who hails from Calgary, is a particularly ardent fan. And every year there's a lot of controversy relating to questions of animal cruelty (mostly coming from people outside of Calgary) and then outrage when one or more horses die (usually in the chuckwagon races).

Interestingly, the Stampede happens a week or two after Toronto Pride, is similar in duration, and attracts a similar number of visitors. The two events kind of represent two really different facets of life in Canada -- Eastern/urban/liberal/modern vs. Western/rural/conservative/traditional -- so they are kind of foils for one another. Which one gets more funding in a given year is kind of seen as indicative of the values of the federal government of the day.

Anyways, this guy makes a very weak argument for allowing people to carry handguns. According to his story, he -- a police officer with 2 decades on the force -- was approached in what he claims was an apparently aggressive manner by two young men "on a paved trail in broad daylight" (his description) who asked him if he'd been to the Stampede and then backed off, puzzled, when he told them he had nothing to say to them. And somehow this is evidence that he should have been allowed to carry a handgun? That's the WTF for me.

I just stopped dead in my tracks and started laughing when I thought about what I did at the Marriott Hotel in Reno. I checked in after the burn and was going through my stuff and sorting what to pack and what to dump. I put everything I was tossing into a trash bag along with all my hotel trash. I bagged it all up and brought it down to the hotel dumpster. Did I really do a "leave no trace" in my hotel room? WTF?

Oakland police called off their search for an armed burglar Thursday evening after firing beanbag rounds into the West Oakland home where the man was last seen but finding no one inside, police said.

The incident began a little after 9 a.m. when a neighbor called police to report a man going into a home on the 1400 block of 12th Street.

The residents were not at home and at about 3 p.m. the Oakland police SWAT team fired beanbag rounds in hopes of forcing the man out. Later officers entered the home and conducted a room-by-room search.

At 4:45 p.m. officers emerged, saying they found no one, and called off the search. Police believe the man may have fled the home before they arrived, said Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland police spokeswoman.